MARCH 20, 2020

Dear Friends,

I wanted to update you on important initiatives the Healthcare Foundation has taken during this challenging time. First of all, we are thinking about you, your family and your safety—the health of our community is at the heart of everything we do.

Your support is what powers our mission and we thank you. Together with you, we are a compassionate group of families, individuals, foundations and businesses who know that providing excellent healthcare to our community largely rests on the shoulders of the passionate leadership team and staff at SMH.

As this healthcare crisis began to unfold, we reached out to SMH leadership, and as you may have heard, the Healthcare Foundation was able to provide the hospital with over $1 million in supplemental grants. Funds will be used to augment equipment currently in use at the hospital, enhance cleaning and infection control, and assist hospital staff in managing this pandemic.

Grants include items such as:

$368,023 for Hamilton MR1 Ventilators provided through a gift from the Flanzer Philanthropic Trust. These ventilators are specifically designed to ventilate and shield patients in the vicinity of an MRI scanner.

$157,500 for the BioFire Film Array Torch that provides the latest in molecular infectious disease diagnostics and designed to meet SMH¹s infectious disease testing needs.

$255,885 for three Tru-D Smart UVC Disinfection Robots to enhance infection control at the health system¹s long- and short-term skilled nursing facilities, at the main campus and the North Port ER. The hospital already has three Tru-D robots in use.

$74,671 for Audio/Video Telemedicine Communication Carts that will be used by clinicians to help assess COVID-19 patients who are in isolation, facilitating physician consults and minimizing clinician exposure to the patients.

$30,000 for Vapotherm Precision Flow Plus, a device that provides humidified high-flow oxygen to patients in respiratory distress.

We are grateful to our donor community for allowing us to respond to these needs in a timely manner. We know this is a difficult time and while we may not be out in the community, we can still take comfort in our sense of community. We are humbled by those who have reached out to us in the last few days wondering how they can help.

In response, we have established the COVID-19 Support Fund. If you are interested in helping us support SMH’s fight against this virus, you may donate on our website: The COVID-19 Support Fund. If you prefer to donate via a different method, please call the Healthcare Foundation at (941) 917-1286.

We are most grateful for your support.

Stay well,
Mason Ayres
President
Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation